Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your Standing Committee on Government Operations has the honour of presenting its report on the review of the Report of the Auditor General to the NWT Legislative Assembly for the year ended March 31, 1996.
Mr. Speaker, this is the second year under the Standing Committee on Government Operations' mandate that it has met to consider the Auditor General's Annual Report. The 13th Assembly's committee structure allows the Government of Operations Committee to consider the Auditor General's comments in conjunction with other relevant issues, which have been considered by the committee before, rather than in isolation.
The standing committee met to review the Auditor General's report on November 19th through November 21st. The first day of meetings was devoted to briefings by the Auditor General's staff and committee staff on the nature of the public accounts, the auditing process, the review process by the Auditor General's report and the issues raised in that report. The second day, November 20th, was a public meeting at which the committee members took the opportunity to discuss the relevant issues with the Comptroller General, Mr. Lew Voytilla and the president of the Housing Corporation, Mr. David Murray. On the third day, November 21st, the committee met with Mr. Glenn Soloy, president of the NWT Development Corporation and Mr. David Hamilton, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, to discuss the issues from the Auditor General's report relevant to their responsibilities. Committee members addressed a number of important issues arising from the report, as well as issues raised in previous committee reports.
Mr. Speaker, that concludes the introductory comments on Committee Report 6-13(5) and I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Committee Report 6-13(5) be received by the Assembly and moved into committee of the whole for consideration. Thank you.